After months of travel, we’re approaching the golden end of the Road to Nanjing.

The World Indoor Championships kick off tomorrow—at least if you’re on this side of the International Date Line. Figuring out the meet schedule may require a bit of time-zone jump rope, as the “morning” sessions in Nanjing, China, kick off around 10pm the night prior on the East Coast. A full timetable with local time conversions can be found on the meet website if you don’t want to be constantly doing math. You can also read our preview written by Preet Majithia here.

The dominant narrative leading up to the championships has, unfortunately, been focused on who isn’t competing. We already knew that Noah Lyles, Julien Alfred, Femke Bol, and more were skipping out on a full indoor season, but the past few weeks also brought a few major late scratches, including Olympic silver medalist Kishane Thompson, U.S. 60m champion Jacious Sears, and Jamaican upstart Tia Clayton. But the past is the past, and with world medals up for grabs and plenty of talent crisscrossing the globe to compete, Nanjing ‘25 still raises some fascinating questions about the state of the sport.

Will big-name absences allow new stars to shine? Of all the Olympic medalists from the men’s and women’s 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, and 1500m, only two are headed to China to compete: Tsige Duguma, who will look to defend her 800m title, and Georgia Hunter Bell, who’s surely out for redemption after barely missing the indoor podium at the European championships. But that opens the door for a whole bunch of athletes who’ve had strong 2025 seasons to really introduce themselves to the world stage—folks like Josh Hoey, the U.S. champ and world leader in the 800m, or Italian Zaynab Dosso, last year’s bronze medalist in the 60m. What could feel like a normal day at the office for one of the sport’s more decorated figures could be a life-changing moment for a blue(r) collar athlete on the come-up.

What will it take to win the women’s shot put? If there’s one event where the best athletes in the world are all showing up, it’s the women’s shot put. Three of this year’s four 20-meter throwers are all competing: reigning champ Sarah Mitton of Canada, four-time global medalist Chase Jackson of U.S.A., and European champ Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands. One of those three will almost certainly come out with the win, but 36-year-old Tokyo Olympic champ Lijiao Gong would surely love to win one last gold on her home soil. The bigger question will be how far the winning throw will sail. Mitton and Schilder’s season’s bests are separated by only a centimeter, at 20.68m and 20.69m.

Can Team USA replicate its middle-distance medal haul from 2024? One of the biggest storylines coming out of last year’s championship in Glasgow was the overperformance of Team USA across the distance events. Americans brought home seven medals across the 800m, 1500m, and 3000m, including titles for Elle St. Pierre and Bryce Hoppel. Neither champ is back to defend, but there are still a good number of medal contenders making the trip. Last year, the U.S. women brought home two medals in the women’s 1500m, and with Heather MacLean and Sinclaire Johnson on the line, a repeat performance is not out of the realm of possibility. In the 3000m, Shelby Houlihan and Whittni Morgan face long odds for gold with a talented Ethiopian team and Australian Jessica Hull in the mix, but then again… so did St. Pierre in 2024. And one area where the U.S. could actually pick up a new medal is the women’s 800m, where Nia Akins is fifth on the entry list by SB but only 0.34 seconds off the world lead.